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Some people believe that only business start-ups need funding and that only large companies need business plans. But the truth is that every business needs a ‘blueprint’ – not just for the benefit of potential investors, but so that the people who work in the business can have a clear idea of its direction, and can commit to a plan.

Did you know? Approximately 543,000 new businesses get started each month. Eight out of ten of them will fail within the first 18 months.

A business plan is a written description of business’s present and future. It is a document that describes goals and strategies you plan to implement to achieve your objectives. This will vary depending on your business life stage, industry and ultimate goals. The importance of a good business plan can not be overstated when you are starting up in business.

Here are five steps to achieving colossal success by mapping out not just your business plan, but also your network of possible advocates who will get you from where you are right now to where you want to go!

1. Write out goals. This is the reason why business plans as we know them are important. They enable us to map out our vision, mission and end game. If a complicated business plan is not your cup of tea, simply write out your goals on a sheet of paper. This will enable you to move on to the next key.

2. Mobilize your contacts. With your goals memorialized in writing, now it’s time to mobilize your troops. For each goal written make a list of people that you know and those you need to know to accomplish the vision. For example, let’s say you are starting a cake bakery. You will need customers, a bakery supply vendor, marketing team and other businesses you may want to partner with. Utilize every tool you have to start mapping the network. Facebook and LinkedIn are invaluable for doing this.

A bid is a sum of money that a lawyer offers for the opportunity of talking to a client, to receive his contact information and discuss his case (the minimum amount you can bid on is 6 law dollars).

It’s important to remember that a lawyer’s bid on a case determines where in the list of competing, “bidding” lawyers their profile will be displayed to the clients, who posted the case. The profile with the highest bid will be displayed first and the lowest, respectively, the last.

On July 18, 2013, the City of Detroit filed for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy making it the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in U.S. history as measured by the amount of outstanding debt. Detroit is estimated to owe $18-$20 billion in debt over 10,000+ creditors, 100 discrete bond issuances and 50 labor bargaining units. Prior to the Detroit filing, Jefferson County, Alabama’s $4 billion filing in 2011 had been the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in the United States.

So where did things go so horribly wrong? The above video is the first in a three part series on the Detroit bankruptcy filing. Video #1 concentrates on The Economics of Failure. The video begins with an illustration of demographic trends for the following three major U.S. cities:

Dallas – People are solidly moving into Dallas due to limited taxes; limited benefits and reduced regulation;

Los Angeles – While the climate of Los Angeles still attracts people to the state, high state income tax and the most restrictive environment regulations in the country are driving many people out of the state of California;

Detroit – There is a massive population exodus from Detroit with virtually no immigration due to the city drowning in debt from more than 50 years of democratic mayors running the city. The video cites cronyism, incompetence and crime as some of the major contributors.

Bankruptcy is a plan which helps you discharge almost all of the debts. However, its effect on your credit is going to be a huge one. Same is the case with the businesses. The only difference is that the businesses are required to file under Chapter 11 bankruptcy. If you find that your business is too deep in debt, you can file bankruptcy. Filing bankruptcy does not necessarily mean that, your business is going to close down. It rather would affect your ability to obtain new credit. However, if you are going to file business bankruptcy, it would be better to take the help from business bankruptcy attorney.

A business bankruptcy attorney can help you file the plan without making any mistakes.

Choosing the right bankruptcy attorney

It is important for you choose the right business bankruptcy attorney. In order to choose the right attorney, you will be required to:

Find out if the attorney is certified – You will have to find out if the attorney is at all certified. It is very important to choose a lawyer who is qualified and experienced. Filing is not a matter of joke and is not easy too. So, it is extremely important to get help from an authentic person. Otherwise, your business problems will only aggravate. The certified business bankruptcy lawyers are supposed to have special training, which helps them deal with business bankruptcy.

Discuss with others who are close – Discuss the situation with other people or relatives, who are close to you. If they ever had have experienced any such situation, they must have taken help from bankruptcy attorney. It is always safer and thus better to get advice or help from a referred person.

What is an Elevator Pitch?

An “Elevator Pitch”, also known as an elevator speech or statement, is a short summary used to quickly define a person, product, profession or organization and its ValueProposition. The name “elevator pitch” conveys that the person who is delivering the message has about the same time that it takes the typical elevator to go from the ground floor the top floor to convince their audience about their proposal. A well designed elevator pitch should be between 30 and 60 seconds.

How to Write a Good Elevator Pitch

The “Elevator Pitch” on Legal Bistro is five lines (500 words maximum) of text that are displayed to potential clients in what we call the “Short Profile Preview”. This is the very first thing that a potential client will see about you and your law firm so you should give a lot of thought to what you would like to say.

Facing financial problems? Want to consolidate your debts? Why don’t you choose a debt consolidation calculator and work out the calculations? This will help you understand how much you’ll be paying every month on your outstanding dues. So, if you’re struggling to handle your debts, it may be the time when you need to consolidate them. If you’ve your own house or any real estate property that you had purchased it with a loan, then you may use a debt calculator to know the amount you will have to pay for it.

With the help of debt consolidation, you can combine all your debt into one. Thus, you’ll be making only a single monthly payment. This is just like taking out a new loan so that you can save on the monthly interest rate. This will also make the payments much easier for you. This is a great way to deal with your financial problems so that you can move towards a debt-free life.

How does a debt consolidation calculator work?

Debt consolidation calculator is a great tool for the consumers who want to consolidate their debt. Read on to know how this calculator actually works.

Do you need a lawyer but are intimidated by the legal process? Are you concerned that professional legal services may be financially out of reach? Perhaps English is not your native language and you are having trouble finding a qualified attorney with whom you can effectively communicate. Don’t worry, if you answered yes to any of these questions you are not alone.

We built Legal Bistro because we were inspired by the contribution that Lending Tree made to the process for finding a mortgage lender. Lending Tree used the power of the Internet to bring online competition in the mortgage application process. Equally important is that Lending Tree’s website has helped consumers to better understand the process of applying for a home loan. We hope that Legal Bistro can achieve similar results in the legal services market.

When Lawyers Compete, You Win!

The single biggest reason why consumers love our service is because Legal Bistro facilitates lawyers competing online to serve the client. Our Company motto is that When Lawyers Compete, the Client Wins!Frankly, we believe that both lawyers and consumers win when the competitive playing field has been leveled.

Are you happy with the current Return on Investment (“ROI”) for your online legal services marketing dollars? Are you spending too much of your time qualifying leads? Do you know anything about the visitors to your law firm’s website besides their IP Address and the date and time of their visit? More specifically, are you being provided with case specific facts that will help you evaluate their legal needs?

If you have answered yes to some or all of these questions then perhaps you will appreciate why lawyers love Legal Bistro.

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